Hosiery packaging machine

ABSTRACT

A packaging machine having a frame and an endless conveyor carrying a plurality of package receiving devices. A package feeding mechanism deposits at least portions of packages in the receiving devices, and articles to be packaged are subsequently positioned within the deposited package portions by an article feeding apparatus. A package closing device then provides a closure which is positively positioned to form a finished, and sealed package.

United States Paten [191 Bell et al. 1

[541 HOSIERY PACKAGING MACHINE [75] Inventors: Cecil B. Bell, Pinnacle;Jessie E. Swaim, Winston-Salem; Horace Paul Gilgo, Walkertown'; RobertC. Rogers, Bethania; Walter Ray Sizemore'; Samuel M. Orr, In, both ofWinston-Salem, all of NC.

[73] Assignee: Hanes Corporation, Winston-Salem,

[22] Filed:

Dec. 23, 1970 [21] App]. No.: 100,900

[52] U.S. Cl. 53/282 [51] Int. Cl. ..B65b 5/04 [58] Field of Search..53/ll6120, 235, 53/250, 253, 266, 281, 282

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,84l,938 7/1958 Speroni..53/282 14 1 Jan. 2, 1973 2,897,643 8/1959 Byrd ..53/28l x 3,503,1823/1970 Phipps ..5s/2s2 3,190,055 6/1965 Povlacs ..53l282 2,930,1725/1960 Pettee et al ..55/250 x 3,263,394 8/1966 Jensen ..53/282 XPrimary Examiner-Robert L. Spruill AttarneyCharles Y. Lackey [57]ABSTRACT A packaging machine having a frame and an endless conveyorcarrying a plurality of package receiving devices. A package feedingmechanism deposits at least portions of packages in the receivingdevices, and articles to be packaged are subsequently positioned withinthe deposited package portions by an article feeding apparatus. Apackage closing device then provides a closure which is positivelypositioned to form a finished, and sealed package.

4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures HOSIERY PACKAGING MACHINE BACKGROUND, BRIEFSUMMARY AND OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION These and other objectives ofthe present invention will become more apparent after a consideration ofthe following detailed specification taken in conjunction While aconsiderable number of automatic textile article packaging devices havebeen developed, these have, for the most part, been directed towardpackaging flat, folded garments which are supported or held by cardboardor plastic inserts. Such apparatus is extremely expensive, and for thisreason, the packaging function in a gannent manufacturing operation isusually accomplished by a plurality of women folding the garments forinsertion within an open polyethylene or plastic bag of some suitabledesign and subsequently sealing this bag with tape, glue or heat.

In the textile industry, the general acceptance of ladies unboardedstockings and panty hose has emphasized the need for a suitableautomatic packaging machine to package hosiery and panty hose garments,as well as other relatively small articles produced in large quantities,without the problems and expense associated with hand packaging flat,folded goods. The unfolded crinkled nature of these garments permits thedesign and utilization of a relatively simple and inexpensive machinecapable of packaging the garments within a variety of shaped containers.

A package herein shall be deemed to include any receptacle or containersuitable for receiving and retaining, either wholly or partially, anarticle preferably constructed of fabric so that it can be positivelyand deformable urged into the package.

The present invention is an apparatus designed to package a wide rangeof textile articles such as items of wearing apparel and particularlyladies unboarded stockings and panty hose which heretofore have beenmanually packaged in a flat, boarded condition. The apparatus iscomprised of a frame, an endless conveyor and garment receiving, devicessituated on the surface of the conveyor maintaining at least a portionof a package to receive an article to be packaged. A package feedinghopper provides a continuous supply of packages within the receivingdevices on the conveyor to receive the textile articles, and agarment'feeding device is located near the conveyor to provide a largesupply of garments that can be sequentially deposited in the packagesheld by and moving with the conveyor.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that a primary object of thepresent invention is to provide a packaging machine of the typedescribed which will permit automatic packaging of textile articles andthe like.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a device of thetype described wherein a plurality of packages and a plurality ofgarments are sequentially and automatically combined on a movingconveyor to form a finished, packaged item.

Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a device ofthe type described suitable to handle in particular a large volume ofrelatively small items such as ladies unboarded stockings and panty hosegarments in a manner heretofore unknown in the art.

with the accompanying drawings wherein like characters of referencedesignate like parts throughout the several views.

FIGURE DESCRIPTION FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the packagingapparatus constituting the present invention showing one complete stageand one partial stage of a package and garment feeding stationpositioned adjacent a conveyor.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational, sectional and isolated view of the packagefeeding device wherein package portions are sequentially fed to andpositioned atop the moving conveyor.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational, schematic view of the apparatus forsequentially positioning an article within at least partial packagescarried by the conveyor.

FIG. 4 is a side elevational, sectional and isolated view of the feedingmechanism for sequentially and positively positioning a garment into atleast a partial packaging receptacle placed thereunder.

FIG. 5 is a side elevational, sectional, enlarged and isolated view ofthe receptacle for receiving and subsequently inserting a garment intoan appropriate package.

FIG. 6 is a side elevational, sectional and schematic view of theclosure providing device and the storage unit for retaining a pluralityof package closures.

FIG. 7 is a side elevational, sectional and isolated view of anadditional stateion wherein the closure members are positively affixedto the partial package.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to FIG. 1, a frame showngenerally as 10 supports an endless conveyor 12 a suitable distanceabove a working surface 14 to permit the conveyor to move through i asubstantially horizontal plane. A plurality of package receiving devices16 are fixedly secured, preferably in pairs, at spaced intervals alongconveyor 12 so that they can move in a substantially horizontal planethrough various operating stages subsequently to be described. TwoL-shaped side plates 18 shield and cover the open ends of the conveyor12 as well as the upper surface edges of that conveyor to prevent thecollection of foreign material in the drive mechanism of the belt.

A package feeding unit shown generally as 20 is utilized to supply thepackage receiving devices 16 with at least a-partial package 21 tosubsequently receive an article. For purposes of discussion, only asingle package feeding device and other related components aredescribed, however, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in theart that duplicate stations such as partially shown as 23 in FIG. I canbe provided adjacent thereto for the handling of the second parallel rowof package receiving devices.

The package feeding unit in preferred form includes a storage column 22suitably designed to retain one or more packages or partial packages 21and a pivotal linkage shown generally as 24 (FIG. 2) for controlling theplacement of packages or partial packages in a predeterminedrelationship and order. A storage bin 26 is provided to retain a largequantity of package portions, while a trap shown generally as 28 andoperated by a solenoid 30 or other suitable means is selectivelyactuated to fill the storage column 22 to the extent desired.

A garment feeding device 32 is schematically illustrated in FIG. 3 todemonstrate its function. The device consists of a first pair of soft,cushiony drive rollers 34 which are preferably covered with a nylon orother synthetic knitted fabric to avoid damage to the articlescontiguous therewith and pulled thereby. Finished garments 39, forexample, ladies hosiery or panty hose, are chuted, preferably by avacuum system, through tubing or conduit 36 (FIG. 1) from a remotesewing or other finishing operation to a collecting column 38 wherein aplurality are collected in a substantially vertical arrangement such asshown in FIG. 4. The lowermost garment 39 in the storage column is thusintroduced to the nip 40 of the upper pair of drive rollers 34 so thatit is pulled from the collecting column 38 and urged positively anddownwardly through a second pair of rollers 37 to a collecting funnel 42as illustrated. Note that roller pair 37 rotate at a greater speed thanpair 34.

The funnel provides a relatively large entranceway to a tubular member44 that will, by forced air flow (see arrows), move the garment into achamber 46 and position it for subsequent insertion within a packageportion. Chamber 46 is provided with a plurality of perforations orapertures 49 and is surrounded by an encircling and closed tubularsection 48. To insure proper positioning within the package, a plunger50 is reciprocally movable within the member 46 to engage the garment 39and urge it downwardly within package portion 21.

A butterfly valve 56 fills an exhaust conduit 58 which connects to asuction producting device 60 so that actuation of the valve 56 willdisplace a closure member 62, and together with an air blast produced inmember 44 by air line 90 through the perforations of member 48, and willdeposit a garment within or near the package so that the plunger 50 canurge it downwardly therein.

A package closing device shown generally as 64 including a storagecolumn 66 and a mechanism for sequentially removing closures 68therefrom comprises yet another work station of the present invention.The mechanism for removing these closures comprises a suction unit 70suitably connected to a belt driven linkage 72 so that a vacuum can beselectively induced to grip a closure member 68 in an appropriatefashion from the column 66. The suction unit 70 will maintain the memberuntil the linkage has positioned it over the larger package portion 21at which time it will be terminated by appropriate means to position theclosure member over the bottom portion of the package. A releasemechanism 74 controls the sequential removal of closures 68 from thecolumn 66 when a solenoid 76 displaces a linkage 78 normally retainingthe closures within the column.

A separate station 78 located adjacent the package closing device 64completes the package closing operation when a closure engaging element68 is urged downwardly by the operation of an air cylinder 82 so thatthe closure 68 is latched to partial package 21 either by friction orother assisting elements (not shown).

The operation of the packaging machines thus involves positioningselectively and sequentially a plurality of package portions 21 withinreceiving devices 16 fixedly secured to a substantially horizontalmoving conveyor belt 12. As the package portions are positioned withinthe devices mounted on the belt, they are moved through a garmentfeeding station 32 where a single or selective number of garments isplaced therein. The packages are then moved to a closing station 64where closures 68 are sequentially, by a suction device, positioned atopthe packages. The packages then pass through a final station 78 wherethe closures are secured to the partial package 21 under pressure.

To facilitate the smooth operation of the feeding mechanism, it isdesirable to position a photoelectric cell on or near conduit 36 so thatgarments can be alternately deposited into storage columns 38 and 84communicating therewith. A solenoid 86 suitably positioned will actuatea butterfly valve 88 when triggered by the photocells sensing thepresence of a garment to alternately admit garments to each of thecolumns 38 and 84.

It has been found desirable in the packaging process to provide a twistin the garment as it is urged toward the package or container, and anair blast creating a vortex through a nozzle 90 tangentiallycommunicating with funnel 42 so that a swirl of air created thereincauses the garment to twist or spiral in a rope-like manner and thusfacilitates the entrance of that garment into the partial package 21.

Note that the piston 91 of plunger 50 has substantially the samediameter as the opening of the package 54. Superior packaging resultswhen the lower end of the piston 91 has a recess 92 to assist in placingthe garment within the package.

The hopper 26 is preferably designated for 4 to 8 hours of continuousoperation without refilling. Utilizing conventional constructiontechniques, one packaging machine of the type described herein having 4stations will service approximately 40 turn-sew-turn operations, theoutput for these 4 stations being approximately 1,000 units per hour.One girl packaging by hand through the total packaging operation cancomplete only about 18 dozen or 216 units per hour.

It is contemplated that a photoelectric scanner be provided on thepackage feeding unit 20 to insure that the package is proper positionedwithin the receiving unit 16. Otherwise, it is possible that the packagemight contact the structure of the garment feeding device 32 thuscausing damage.

To provide additional storage capacity, the conveying conduit 36 can beformed in a spiral or snake-like configuration so that a surplus ofgarments can be accumulated when finished, for example, by theturn-sewturn operator. This spiral-like arrangement eliminates thetendency of garments to cling together when they are placed in storagebins and thus prevents a fill-up of individual garments within theloading structure.

While there has been described a preferred embodiment of a garmentpackaging machine, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatmodifications may be made in the various loading stations as well as inthe aka conveyor and related components without departing from thespirit of the present invention. Such changes and alterations arecontemplated.

We claim:

1. A textile fabric article packaging machine comprising: a frame, anendless conveyor associated with said frame; package portion receivingmeans carried by said conveyor; package portion feeding means proximatesaid conveyor depositing package portions in said receiving means;garment supply means; garment feeding means proximate said conveyor forfrictionally and sequentially extracting a predetermined number offabric garments from said garment supply means and for depositing saidgarments in said package portions; means closing the package portions;package portion supply means associated with said package portionfeeding means; said receiving means including at least one receptaclemovably positionable with respect to said package portion feeding meansand said garment feeding means, and said package portion feeding meansincluding a storage column holding one or more package portions in arandom relationship each with the other, means adjacent said columncontrolling the movement of the randomly positioned package portionswithin said columns so that package portions are ejected therefrom in apredetermined and uniform relationship.

2. A machine as claimed in claim '1, said garment feeding meansincluding a garment storage column holding one or more garments, saidfeeding means frictionally and sequentially extracting a predeterminednumber of garments from said column, and means receiving and positioningthe extracted garments within the packages.

3. A machine as claimed in claim 2, further comprising package supplymeans associated with said package feeding means and garment supplymeans associated with said garment feeding means.

4. A machine as claimed in claim 1, said closing means including storagemeans for one or more package closures, means sequentially removingclosures from said storage means and positioning the closures in aninverted relationship contiguous the packages and pressure meanssecuring the closures to the packages.

1. A textile fabric article packaging machine comprising: a frame, anendless conveyor associated with said frame; package portion receivingmeans carried by said conveyor; package portion feeding means proximatesaid conveyor depositing package portions in said receiving means;garment supply means; garment feeding means proximate said conveyor forfrictionally and sequentially extracting a predetermined number offabric garments from said garment supply means and for depositing saidgarments in said package portions; means closing the package portions;package portion supply means associated with said package portionfeeding means; said receiving means including at least one receptaclemovably positionable with respect to said package portion feeding meansand said garment feeding means, and said package portion feeding meansincluding a storage column holding one or more package portions in arandom relationship each with the other, means adjacent said columncontrolling the movement of the randomly positioned package portionswithin said columns so that package portions are ejected therefrom in apredetermined and uniform relationship.
 2. A machine as claimed in claim1, said garment feeding means including a garment storage column holdingone or more garments, said feeding means frictionally and sequentiallyextracting a predetermined number of garments from said column, andmeans receiving and positioning the extracted garments within thepackages.
 3. A machine as claimed in claim 2, further comprising packagesupply means associated with said package feeding means and garmentsupply means associated with said garment feeding means.
 4. A machine asclaimed in claim 1, Said closing means including storage means for oneor more package closures, means sequentially removing closures from saidstorage means and positioning the closures in an inverted relationshipcontiguous the packages and pressure means securing the closures to thepackages.